France 24

Saudi Arabia: Biden administration does not hide “its hostility-sight-MBS”

As the Biden administration prepares to issue an intelligence report on the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi, and the new US president has spoken to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s father, relations between Washington and Riyadh appear to have deteriorated. Decryption with Karim Sadar, a political scientist specializing in the Gulf. At the height of its influence and power under the Trump era, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Ben Salman, better known as MBS, is not in the good graces of the new US administration that seeks to rejuvenate its relations with Riyadh . Joe Biden prefers to meet King Salman for the first time on Thursday, February 25, instead of his son. In addition, Joe Biden, who was criticized several times during his campaign against human rights violations in Saudi Arabia, will also authorize. Disintegration of US intelligence report on the assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in October 2018 breaks with US diplomacy under the Trump era, appearing in Saudi Arabia, states 24 interviewed by Arma Sadar, France, a political scientist and consultant specializing in the Gulf . However, we have to be precise, as it is above all a change of attitude towards one person, namely the crown prince Mohammed ben Salman, who was ‘dear’ to the Trump administration “” More evidence of the MBS’s hostility towards the very person , The decision could not be more obvious to choose Salman as a negotiator, and no longer have a son who had an almost intimate front door to the Oval Office, through President Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, with him daily. Known to negotiate the basis. “Since coming to the White House, Joe Biden” has multiplied the decisions unfavorable to the underlying prince and his actions. Such as the end of support for the war in Yemen, or the decision to remove the Houthis from the US counter-terrorism list, which was the last diplomatic gift provided by Donald Trump just before he left power, “recalls Karim Sadar. He would have forgotten Are, he says, a hand given to Iran by the United States for a possible withdrawal of the Iran nuclear deal, – many files dear to MBS, the de facto leader of the Wahhabi Petromonarchy, appointed by King Salman as crown prince in June 2017. , Who, after experiencing a meteoric rise and a certain notoriety in the West, saw his image as a reformer slowly tarnish. Especially against his brutal methods of governance and human rights activists, intellectuals and critics Due to an authoritarian drift portrayed by arrest campaigns carried out in the state. The war in Yemen, the embarrassment against Qatar … MBS also collected diplomacy at a diplomatic level, before the assassination of Jamal Khashogi of Saudi Arabia and its strongman International oprogrib Waved out. The MBS remains to be seen if the US administration can stop working with whoever it is to rule Saudi Arabia, and Joe Beiden’s decision not to initiate a process to loosen and provoke the MBS. This question may arise according to Karan Sadar. “This breakdown indicates the end of a sense of impotence that could animate the young prince under Joe Biden’s predecessor,” he said. While the Trump administration defended the hereditary prince, going so far as to cover him in Khashogi’s case and to relieve him of his personal and direct responsibility, “this blank check no longer seems relevant.” MBS is no longer valid. , He knows that according to political scientist, this era is over. “The crown prince feels the pressure of the new administration, has also dropped ballast on a number of topics, most notably on the subject of reconciliation with Qatar, and the release of Saudi human rights activist Loujain al-Hathul, developing Karim Sadar Is. The MBS is caught between, on the one hand, this new American president who will demand more openness and reforms than that, and on the other hand, the conservative fringe. The state that remains hostile to the young prince’s turn to modernization projects. ” If MBS can no longer rely on Washington’s support, it will find itself in a very uncomfortable position politically. “If he loses his American ally, Mohammed ben Salman will lose a lot of credit internally, judging the political scientist. And knowing that he has many enemies who wait in turn, the conservative Beginning at the fringe and by all the princes. He was publicly humiliated “.” Saudi Arabia remains a key ally of Americans “Nevertheless, publicly turning his back on the Saudi state strongman, the US president Relations between Washington and Riyadh have cast a chill over the future. “And the historic alliance between the world’s largest power and the world’s largest oil exporter.” Saudi Arabia remains an important ally of Americans, and of the two countries Nobody is interested in ending this alliance, assured Karim Sadar. Although for many years, Saudi Arabia no longer has the same strategic importance from the United States’ point of view. “The Energy Approach.” The United States, which is engaged in the development of unconventional energy, including shale gas, has reached a stage of production, which allows them to exit their dependence on Saudi oil, “a dependency that The basis of their alliance was “and to conclude:” Joe Biden wishes for an imbalance between US diplomacy in the region and various Gulf monarchies, as Barack Obama had sought before. Who says that imbalance , Does not say severance with the Saudis, so it is one. Now the question of not recognizing Saudi Arabia’s role as a major power in the Gulf. The United States in particular can rely more on the United Arab Emirates, Knowing that this country, such as other people in the region, has taken steps towards synergy with Israel ”.